Constance Moore has died

Constance Moore, a versatile actress of Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s, has died. She was 84.

Moore died Friday of heart failure after a long illness, her son Michael Maschio said. A memorial service was held Tuesday. During her career, Moore appeared in comedies, dramas, musicals, westerns and even a 1939 serial called "Buck Rogers." She also starred with Robert Young in a short-lived TV series (1961-62) "Window on Main Street," following Young's success in "Father Knows Best."

Born in Sioux City, Iowa, Moore grew up in Dallas with a strong ambition to be a singer. CBS hired the dark-haired beauty for a musical program, and her rich contralto captured the attention of a visiting Universal Studio talent scout. Signed to a contract, she appeared in several B pictures as well as the classic W.C. Fields comedy, "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man."

Moore also appeared in such films as "Earl Carroll Vanities," "Show Business," "Take a Letter Darling," "I Wanted Wings," "Las Vegas Nights," "Mutiny on the Blackhawk," and "Prison Break." She also was seen on Broadway in "By Jupiter."

When she asked a studio executive about hiring an agent, he recommended her future husband, John Maschio. She was 18 when they married, and the union lasted 63 years until his death in 1998. Besides her son, Moore is survived by a daughter, Gina Marks; two sisters; two grandchildren and one great-grandchild, AP reports.